1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to communication technologies, and more specifically to a system for delivering specialized services to users of phones.
2. Related Art
Phones are commonly used by users to communicate with other users over a network. Generally, a telecommunication company provides such a network and also various communication services that users can avail over the network. The communication services may include “core” services such as audio/video calling, facsimile (FAX), etc. and/or value added services (VAS) such as short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), emails, etc. as is well known in the arts.
Specialized services refer to a broad range of services that are provided either as part of or in addition to the VAS noted above. In general, such specialized services are provided/delivered by third-party service providers (using the infrastructure of the telecommunication company) in contrast to VAS which is generally provided/delivered by the telecommunication company itself. Specialized services often availed by using the core/VAS services provided by the telecommunication company, for example, by placing an audio call or by sending an SMS.
Examples of specialized services are content delivery services for delivering content such as advertisements, weather forecasts, ringtones, wallpapers, astrological horoscopes, etc., social participation services that enable users to take part in market surveys, vote for his/her favorite (for example, among contestants of a reality shown on television), update his/her status on social networking websites, etc. and business (transaction) related services such as payment of bills, exchange of business cards, etc.
There is a general need to deliver such specialized services to the users of phones in a more economical and simplified manner.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.